Sunday, May 27, 2012

Playing Northamptonshire Table Skittles at the Engineers Arms in Henlow.

We visited the Engineers Arms this afternoon having recently seen an advert for the pub in a CAMRA magazine that we picked up at the London Hatter pub in Luton. The advert caught my eye as it mentioned that they had Northamptonshire Skittles at the pub! As fans of pub games we made a note to visit next time we were in the area.

Emily and I really enjoyed our visit to the pub. It’s a nice spot and we had a drink in the cool and shady beer garden before facing-off in our first-ever game of Skittles!

The Northamptonshire Skittles Table at the Engineers Arms in Henlow

Having never played the game before we sought advice on the rules from Northamptonshire’s premier Minigolfer Marc ‘The Roller’ Bazeley, a man who is known to play the game of Skittles in his local sports and social club.

Abridged Rules Northamptonshire Skittles:

- The table has 9-skittles and 3 ‘cheeses’ to throw at the skittles

- First player to 7-legs wins

- Each leg consists of 3-throws per player

- The player who knocks down the most skittles wins the leg

- In the event of a tied leg each player throws one cheese, the player who knocks down the most pegs wins that leg

Once Emily and I had received the rules we set about playing. I took the first leg 5-3, but Emily took the next two 5-6 and 4-6, before I regained the lead with wins 6-5, 7-5 and 8-7.

Tossing a Cheese at the Northamptonshire Skittles Table at the Engineers Arms in Henlow

With the game at 4-2 in legs the seventh leg saw us tie 6-6. In the play-off I won 3-2 to make the game 5-2.

Emily though went on a roll and notched up an 8-9 win, scoring the first maximum, followed by 2-4 and 6-7 wins to bring the game level.

The next game saw Emily step-up and hit a 9 with just two cheeses and take the leg 4-9 and make the game 5-6, but the win was not to be as I scored a 7-5 win followed by a 7-6 win the decider to take a 7-legs to 6 win overall.

A nice village pub that is well worth a visit. There are a number of other pub games on offer at the Engineers Arms, including Darts and Shut the Box!

As part of the Great Britain B Team Richard and Emily teamed with Brad Shepherd and Ruth Burke as they took on Germany, two other Great Britain teams and a WMF Allstar team comprised of players from Germany, Kosovo, the Republic of Ireland and the USA.

Richard Gottfried playing Hole 2 at the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters 2012 in Hastings

In the battle for the bronze medal the WMF Allstars won the seven-round contest by thirteen shots with a total of 686, with Great Britain B on 699. The overall champions were Germany who retained their title with a five-shot victory over the Great Britain A Team.

In the two-day individual competition Richard finished 14th, scoring rounds of 32, 34, 38, 34, 36, 32 and 34 to finish on a twelve under par total of 240 across the seven-rounds.

Emily scored rounds of 38, 33, 36, 39, 34, 35 and 31 to finish on 246(-6) and 17th place in the overall tournament. Emily was unable to retain her WMF World Adventure Golf Masters Women’s title, losing to Ruth Burke by ten shots.

Emily Gottfried playing Hole 2 at the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters 2012 in Hastings

Germany’s Martin Stoeckle retained his title winning the overall tournament with a score of 191(-61). Great Britain players Michael Smith and James Rutherford were in second and third place.

Richard said “It’s always an honour to represent Great Britain and the World Adventure Golf Masters is a great event. Our team had a real battle with the Allstar team in the fight for the Bronze and it was a shame we couldn’t defeat them. Apart from my rounds of 36 and 38 I was happy with my scoring, but will need to hit a few more Aces in next month’s BMGA British Minigolf Championships which will be on the same course.”

Emily said “Obviously I am sorry not to retain my title and although I had a couple of poor rounds I also scored a Personal Best round of 31 on the course. I lost out by 10 shots so I know I need to work on this and win the Women’s World Adventure Golf Title back next year.”

A run-in with a Seagull on the Pirate Adventure Golf course in Hastings.

One of the perils of playing Minigolf at the seaside is the threat of Seagulls. It has been known for players to have their ball gobbled up by a greedy Seagull during a tournament and there are always plenty of them milling around on the look out to steal chips and other food from competitors.

During the sixth round of last weekend’s WMF World Adventure Golf Masters competition in Hastings, East Sussex our group’s scorecard, which I was holding at the time, was splattered by a passing Seagull causing a minor delay in play while we cleaned up the card. Luckily the scores for myself, Alex 'Perfect Par' Pragnell and Lavdim Zylfiu were not smudged.

The Sullied Adventure Golf Scorecard

The splat from the seagull sits astride the scores on the sullied scorecard

A number of players did question whether the offending Gull was Top Gull, "Lancing, Worthing & Brighton's Premier Seagull", or if it was one of his mates from the #GullMafia???

A Seagull takes a break in the fountain between the 10th & 11th holes at the Hastings Pirate Adventure Golf

Did Top Gull make a visit to Hastings from Lancing, Worthing or Brighton?

Saturday, May 19, 2012

I always enjoy a trip to Hastings. There’s obviously the brilliant Minigolf courses to play, meeting up with friends, visits to some very good pubs, excellent seafood, the great 1066 Cake Stand, the Amusement Arcades, some interesting events and of course the wonderful Post Office Tea Rooms in nearby St Leonards. But wandering along the seafront while in town during our latest visit for the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters tournament I randomly got to meet Big Bird out of Sesame Street!

When we arrived in Hastings ready to practice for the weekend’s tournament our first stop was to the 1066 Cake Stand in Hastings’ town centre at the Thursday market. We spotted the Eccles Cake and I bought one for my breakfast. Very tasty it was too. A job well done indeed.

The tasty Gluten Free Eccles Cakes at 1066 Cake Stand in Hastings

I also bought some Latkes – two in a pack for 90p – and this savoury snack of a potato pancake made a great second course to my Eccles Cake! I also really like the Kugel that 1066 Cake Stand make.

Unfortunately I didn’t have room to try the Gluten Free Chocolate Cake they had made.

Monday, May 07, 2012

On Sunday 8th April 2012 Emily and I visited St Andrews in Scotland to visit and play the world’s first Miniature Golf course!

The Ladies' Putting Green (The Himalayas) at St Andrews, Scotland

The Himalayas Putting Course, also known as the Ladies’ Putting Green, is part of a private club run by the St Andrews Ladies’ Putting Club. In 1867 the course was created and the St Andrews Ladies’ Golf Club was formed.

Evidence of the founding of The Ladies' Putting Club at St Andrews in 1867 - the World's First Miniature Golf Course and Club!

As part of our tour of Scotland we had visited Minigolf courses in Helensburgh, Bannockburn, Perth, and Broughty Ferry before arriving at St Andrews for the most anticipated course visit since we first heard about The Himalayas!

Luckily on our visit the course was open for play by the general public. It’s open from April to September, but there are some ‘members only’ reserved times. We quickly paid for a round and hit the links!

Richard Gottfried playing a shot at the World's First Miniature Golf Course - The Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

In our match I defeated Emily 47 to 59 on the very well maintained and difficult course. The course is incredibly good value and it costs just £2 per person to play the 18-holes

The Himalayas Putting Course - Information and Local Rules Board

The 18-hole Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

The course has been on our ‘to visit and play list’ for some time and was a definite activity on our tour of the north of England and Scotland. A bonus find when we arrived was that there is not only an 18-hole course, but also a 9-hole layout! This is only £1 a round!

The 9-hole Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

In the 9-hole contest the match was much closer. I won the game with a score of 26 to Emily's 28.

If you’re a fan of Minigolf and/or Golf then St Andrews is a must visit place. We can’t wait to return. Hopefully we’ll have more time to spend there next time. I’m also looking forward to visit the British Golf Museum as it was closed when we visited.

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Almost at the 'Magic' 500-mark Milestone on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

With our latest miniature golf roadtrips taking us to the north west and north east of England, some of Scotland and a little bit of the south coast, our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour tally sees us sit at 297 minigolf courses played since the 30th September 2006! Of these I have played 295 and Emily has managed a round of minigolf on 270 courses.

Me and Emily at Strokes Adventure Golf in Margate (2009)

In total we have visited 495 miniature golf course locations in eleven countries. Unfortunately 198 of the courses were found to be unplayable on our visit.

We haven’t both been up there for a round of Crazy Golf and Putting for a while and so had a three-round contest, with two-rounds of Minigolf and one-round on the Putting Green.

Emily playing hole 5 on Tea Green Golf's Mini Golf course

In the Keith Classic Miniature Golf Contest* I defeated Emily 52 to 57. I scored two round of 18(par) on the Minigolf and a 16(+4) with one hole-in-one on the Putting. Emily scored rounds of 19, 21 and 17.

* When we arrived we saw a Pheasant lurking around the driveway entrance and heard him throughout the round. We named him ‘Keith’ in honour of the joke about Richie’s Grouse in the Comedy Show ‘Bottom’!

At the main junction in Upper Largo there were a pair of Brown Tourist Signs pointing just to ‘East’ and ‘West’, rather than any particular sites of interest! I believe these are for the Fife Coastal Tourist Route. They are also another set of signs spotted for the Follow The Brown Signs website.

A pair of Brown Tourist Signs in Upper Largo, Scotland

At the same junction of Main Street, Saint Andrews Road & South Feus was a milestone that showed distances to 15 places, the closest being Mounturpie at ‘no miles away’. I wonder if The Milestone Society has it logged on their database.

A Milestone in Upper Largo, Scotland

Having a 'wander' around Upper Largo on Google Street View you can see that above the Milestone there are another couple of Brown Tourist Signs, along with the other side of the milestone. One of these Brown Signs showed that 'Scotland's Secret Bunker' was 11 miles in the direction we had come from!

The 9-hole miniature golf putting course layout is very testing and will likely take a good few goes to get a good under-par score. The course has a Par of 27 – in my first game I scored a 34(+7) and my follow up try resulted in a 29(+2).

Once you’ve played the game you need to submit a screenshot of your round to Factory Eleven by email or via Twitter. Full details and a link to the game can be found at – Golf Parc Challenge

Here’s to a month of minigolf mouse clicking!

My scorecard from my second go on the Golf Parc Challenge golf game - a two-over 29!

Checking out the Factory Eleven website I found that they are an events and design business that creates innovative sports equipment. The Golf Parc equipment has been designed to help with the understanding of the fundamentals of golf in a fun and interactive environment.

On our visit on the 8th of April (Easter Sunday) we found the course to be open so we jumped on and had a game, it was £2 per player (for adults).

Some of the holes on the Crazy Golf course looked very similar to the Eternit-style of Miniature Golf, although the concrete course did not play much like one.

Despite its rough shape it was quite fun to play and was very busy too with a constant stream of people heading onto the course for a traditional seaside Putt around.

The course was the 31st visited on our roadtrip, but only the seventh played! In our match-up I managed to get only my third win in a round of the North West England, Scotland & North East England Tour Challenge contest between me and Emily with a 48 to 56 victory.

A view of the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

Emily playing the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

Emily playing the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

Richard playing through a very large obstacle at the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

Emily playing a tricky hole on the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

A tap-in for Emily on the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

Taking a shot on the Volcano hole at Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf - I scored a hole-in-one!

Prior to our visit I had read a news story about plans for the course to receive a bit of a makeover with some recycled carpet from the Dundee International Sports Complex and a lick of paint too. According to the report the course hadn't had any work done to it since the 1970's!

Prior to our visit to Broughty Ferry the only knowledge we had of the town was that it was home to the star of three excellent books, a radio series and a Hero of Dundee - Bob Servant.

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

According to ‘the internet’ there are two days each year to celebrate Miniature Golf!

The first of these is National Miniature Golf Day and falls on the second Saturday in May, this year it’s on Saturday 12th of May. The first ever National Miniature Golf Day was held on the 12th of May 2007!

The second of these is Miniature Golf Day and is always on the 21st of September.

This year the British Minigolf Association Tour will be at Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, Kent on the 21st of September (a Friday) and the BMGA Players Championship (and BMGA International Players Championship) will be contested. The weekend of the 22nd and 23rd September sees the 15th annual BMGA British International Open tournament played at the course.

Playing hole 1 of the Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, Kent

Where will you be playing Minigolf, Crazy Golf, Adventure Golf or Putt-Putt on the Miniature Golf Days this year...?

Below are a selection of photos from the course visits. You can see photos of the courses that we did play at a blog post here.

Bispham - Queens Road Promenade - The Crazy Golf isn't there any more

The Putting Course at Anchorsolme Park in Bispham - not yet open for the season

The Mini Golf / Pitch & Putt Course at Anchorsolme Park in Bispham - not yet open for the season

Outside the Closed Minigolf Kiosk at Anchorsolme Park in Bispham

The Crazy Golf & Mini Golf / Pitch & Putt in Fleetwood - not yet open for the season

The Crazy Golf course in Fleetwood - not yet open for the season

We noticed the Crazy Golf course in Marine Hall Gardens in Fleetwood has been demolished since our last visit in 2009! The course that was there is just a stone's throw away from the other Crazy Golf course and Pitch & Putt, but we somehow managed to miss seeing them on our first visit to Fleetwood!?

Happy Mount Park in Morecambe - home to Crazy Golf and Putting Courses, but the Miniature Golf is no longer there

The Old Course Putting Green at St Andrews in Scotland is for 'Old Course' Players Only

The Bruce Embankment Putting Green wasn't open on our visit to St Andrews

The Adventure Golf course at Jumpin Jacks Children's Adventure Play and Crazy Golf in Kirkaldy, Scotland is open until 6pm, we arrived after 6pm

The Putting at Beveridge Park in Kircaldy wasn't yet open for the season on our visit

A sign at Beveridge Park in Kircaldy also said there was a Crazy Golf course there. We couldn't find one, but this are could be home to a portable type of course during the summer

While we played the East Links Putting Course in North Berwick, we ran out of time to play the West Links Mini Golf

The 'Golf Town' of Gullane had a Childrens Golf Course - a miniature version of the larger Golf courses

Dunbar's Lauderdale Park no longer has a Crazy Golf course, but there were some funny looking ornaments in the gardens!

The Magdalene Fields Golf Club in Berwick-upon-Tweed is home to a Putting Course

On our visit to The Pavilion Amusements in Spittal, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Crazy Golf course wasn't yet open for the season

The last stop on our tour saw us not play the Crazy Golf course at St Marks Activity Garden in Millfield, Sunderland as we couldn't find any staff to hire equipment from

Other Minigolf course locations we visited on our trip were in Bispham where we couldn't see the Putting Course that was supposed to be near Norbreck Station and North Berwick in Scotland where we found that the Crazy Golf course at The Lodge had been removed.